pope

Bekah McNeel 2-07-2024

An image of an empty bassinet. Photo by freestocks via Unsplash. 

When Pope Francis called for a global ban on surrogacy during a foreign policy address last month, non-Catholics, especially those in the United States, may have felt the subject came out of nowhere. Surrogacy is medically and legally regulated in the U.S. as an intervention recommended by the American Society for Reproductive Medicine for those who do not have the ability to become pregnant or carry a pregnancy to term. But the pope’s concern was beyond the ethics of procreation, as he positioned his pronouncement within the context of a global economy and exploitation of women.

“A child is always a gift and never the basis of a commercial contract,” Francis said. “At every moment of its existence, human life must be preserved and defended; yet I note with regret, especially in the West, the continued spread of a culture of death, which in the name of a false compassion discards children, the elderly and the sick.”

Cardinal Raymond Leo Burke of the United States leaves after receiving his ring from Pope Benedict XVI during the Consistory ceremony in Saint Peter's Basilica at the Vatican on Nov. 21, 2010. REUTERS/Tony Gentile

Pope Francis has removed some of the Vatican privileges of conservative American Cardinal Raymond Burke, including a large, subsidized apartment and his salary, a senior Vatican official said on Tuesday.

Pope Francis delivering his blessing during the Angelus noon prayer, from the chapel of the hotel at the Vatican grounds where he lives on Nov. 26, 2023. Photograph by VATICAN MEDIA / Catholic Press Photo via Reuters.

Hundreds of Catholic institutions around the globe have announced plans to divest their finances of oil, gas, and coal to help fight climate change since Pope Francis published his landmark encyclical on environmental stewardship in 2015 urging a break with fossil fuels.

Catholic and Christian activists call for a cease-fire outside the White House in Washington, D.C., during a “pray-in” on Nov. 2, 2023. Juliann Ventura/Medill News Service for Sojourners

Fifty protesters gathered for a “pray-in” in Lafayette Square on Thursday afternoon, holding signs directly facing the White House that said, “Catholics say ceasefire now.”

Pope Francis attends a meeting with bishops of the Synod of the Ukrainian Greek-Catholic Church at the Vatican, Sept. 6, 2023. Vatican Media/­Handout via REUTERS

Ukraine’s Eastern Rite Catholic bishops bluntly told Pope Francis at a meeting on Wednesday that some of his comments about Russia had caused great pain and were being used by Moscow to justify a “a murderous ideology.”

Pope Francis speaks during a general audience at St Peter’s Square, Vatican City, March, 29, 2023. Vatican Media/Handout via REUTERS

Pope Francis has a respiratory infection and will need to spend “a few days” in hospital for treatment, the Vatican said in a statement on Wednesday

Pope Francis arrives for the audience of the faithful from the parishes of Rho in the Paul VI hall. Evandro Inetti/ZUMA Press Wire/dpa via Reuters.

Almost four years after Pope Francis issued tougher measures against sexual abuse in the Catholic Church, the Vatican announced on Saturday expanded and clearer rules

Nicaraguan Cardinal Leopoldo Brenes leads a mass at the Metropolitan Cathedral, as a suspension of diplomatic ties between Nicaragua and the Vatican has been proposed according to a Nicaragua’s foreign ministry statement, in Managua, Nicaragua March 12, 2023. REUTERS/Stringer

Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega has ordered the closure of the Vatican Embassy in Managua and that of the Nicaraguan Embassy to the Vatican in Rome, a senior Vatican source said on Sunday.

12-31-2022

Pope Benedict XVI, Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger of Germany, waves from a balcony of St. Peter’s Basilica in the Vatican after being elected by the conclave of cardinals, April 19, 2005. REUTERS/Max Rossi

Former Pope Benedict, who in 2013 became the first pontiff in 600 years to resign, died on Saturday at age 95 in a secluded monastery in the Vatican where he had lived since stepping down.

Pope Francis holds a little boy during his weekly general Audience In St. Paul Hall at the Vatican. Evandro Inetti/ZUMA Press Wire via Reuters.

Pope Francis was delighted when a young boy stormed onto the stage during his general audience on Wednesday, in which he addressed the topic of dialogue between young and old people.

Pope Francis is welcomed by some elders of the First Nations, Métis, and Inuit peoples during his visit to the Church dedicated to Our Lady of Seven Sorrows a Edmonton, July 25, 2022. Vatican Media/Catholic Press Photo. 

Pope Francis on Monday made good on a promise to apologize to Canada’s native people on their home land for the Church’s role in schools where Indigenous children were abused, branding forced cultural assimilation “evil” and a “disastrous error.”

Pope Francis speaks during an exclusive interview with Reuters, at the Vatican, July 2, 2022. REUTERS/Remo Casilli

Pope Francis said he wants to give women more top-level positions in the Holy See and disclosed that for the first time he would name women to a previously all-male Vatican committee that helps him select the world’s bishops.

Pope Francis holds a news conference aboard the papal plane on his flight back after visiting Malta, April 3, 2022.

Pope Francis paid tribute on Sunday to journalists killed during the Ukraine war saying he hoped God would reward them for serving the common good whatever side they were on.

Métis National Council president Cassidy Caron poses for a group picture alongside Métis Residential School survivor Angie Crerar, 85, and other Indigenous delegates from Canada's First Nations after a meeting with Pope Francis near St. Peter’s Square at the Vatican, March 28, 2022. REUTERS/Guglielmo Mangiapane.

Survivors of Canada’s residential schools on Monday asked Pope Francis for unfettered access to church records on the institutions where Indigenous children were abused and their culture denied.

Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI arrives at the airport for his return flight to the Vatican. Pope Benedict on Tuesday asked victims of sexual abuse in the Catholic Church for forgiveness but rejected allegations that he was involved in any cover-up. Reuters

Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI on Tuesday asked victims of sexual abuse in the Catholic Church for forgiveness but rejected allegations that he was involved in any cover-up. The retired pontiff was responding to an independent report, released on January 20, which chronicles decades of alleged abuse and misconduct in the archdiocese of Munich, which he led as Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger from 1977 and 1982.

Former pope Benedict gestures at the Munich Airport before his departure to Rome on June 22, 2020.

Former pope Benedict gestures at the Munich Airport before his departure to Rome on June 22, 2020. Sven Hoppe/Pool via REUTERS

Former Pope Benedict XVI acknowledged on Monday he had been at a 1980 meeting over a sexual abuse case when he was archbishop of Munich, saying he mistakenly told German investigators he was not there.

Mitchell Atencio 1-13-2022

Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. at the Santa Monica Civic Auditorium, 1963 via Reuters. 

One of the best jobs I ever held was assistant manager at Grace Records. I was a founding staff member at the new and used vinyl shop in Arizona, a father and son venture that was a thrill to work at.

Jeff Mason, Reuters 10-14-2021

President Joe Biden delivers remarks about global transportation supply chain bottlenecks from the East Room at the White House in Washington, D.C., October 13, 2021. REUTERS/Leah Millis

President Joe Biden will meet with Pope Francis on Oct. 29 before attending a two-day summit of G-20 leaders in Rome where he hopes to reach agreement on a Global Minimum Tax of 15 percent, White House officials said on Thursday.

On the second foreign trip of his presidency, Biden will then attend the U.N. climate conference known as COP26 in Glasgow, Scotland, from Nov. 1-2 and announce key actions on the conference's top themes, including goals for fighting climate change and forest and land use, one White House official told Reuters.

 

Pope Francis leads a mass to open the synod of bishops in Vatican City, October 10, 2021. REUTERS/Remo Casilli

Pope Francis on Sunday launched a two-year worldwide consultative process that could change the way the Roman Catholic Church makes decisions and leave its mark long after his pontificate is over.

Proponents see the initiative called “For a Synodal Church: Communion, Participation and Mission” as an opportunity to change the church’s power dynamics and give a greater voice to lay Catholics, including women, and people on the margins of society.

Conservatives say the three-stage process is a waste of time, may erode the hierarchical structure of the 1.3 billion member church, and in the long run could dilute traditional doctrine.

Pope Francis greets Mattia Villardita, who was dressed as Spiderman, after the general audience, at the Vatican, June 23, 2021. REUTERS/Remo Casilli

A different type of participant dropped in on Pope Francis' general audience at the Vatican on Wednesday: Spider-Man.

A man dressed in a full, skin-tight, red, black and blue costume of the comic book and film character — including head cover — sat in the VIP section of the audience in Vatican's San Damaso Courtyard.